Thursday, April 30, 2015

If there one thing which worries me about the possibility of us receiving 50-state marriage equality at SCOTUS, it is the reaction to folks who do not support us being married.

I am somewhat concerned, not because I think of them as irrational folks. There are some folks who have very sincere beliefs that marriage equality is wrong and I respect that. I am worried about who some are choosing to believe.

It's one thing to be absolutely ludicrous and make ridiculous claims that God will be angry at America. But it's when these folks start predicting actual persecution and conjuring up images of Christians and pastors being arrested which bothers me. Case in point, Glenn Beck:

Glenn Beck is a demagogue. A moronic idiot who lucked into a media empire, but he has a multitude of followers and while we laugh at his inanity, there are folks who actually believe what he says.
And unfortunately, he isn't the only person on the right pushing irresponsible rhetoric regarding the possible SCOTUS decision on marriage equality.

Never mind that these folks have track record for being inaccurate (they made the same claims about lgbt-inclusive hate crimes legislation), it's what they can fool people into believe which matters.

All it takes is one fool and the ignorance of fools is what these folks seem to be counting on.

Anti-Gay Activists Urge 'Resistance' Before Marriage Equality Destroys 'Just About Everything' - I want us to win at SCOTUS with regards to marriage equality because it's the fair and right thing to happen. But .5 percent of me can't help but wanting to see if the religious right has the guts to back up all of this "civil disobedience" and "revolution" junk they have been threatening. No one is naive, guys. When you talk about "resistance," you mean manipulating your supporting masses to do your dirty work while you, as Redd Foxx from 'Sanford and Son' puts it - "coordinate things."

Capitol Prayer Service: God Will Punish America For Legalizing Gay Marriage - SAD! Our Congressional leaders are in a position to help this country (BECAUSE they are Congressional leaders), but instead they are attacking marriage equality because they seem to think that God has turned a blind eye to more pressing problems of the human race (war, famine, natural disasters, etc) to focus His attention on marriage equality.

The tweet links to an article from MRC Newsbusters. a right-wing site which supposedly monitors "liberal media bias." The article includes a video of the march, but there is absolutely no way anyone can tell the number of participants by viewing the video.

So where did the "15,000 participants" claim come from ? From NOM itself. According to the article:

A marriage march press contact confirmed to MRC Culture through NOM that “approximately 15,000” marchers attended.

In other words, Brown is implying that an "unbiased" news source confirmed that NOM's March for Marriage had 15,000 participants. However, the claim isn't coming from the news source. It is coming from Brian Brown and NOM.

This absolute pitiful subterfuge has been a hallmark of NOM's fight against marriage equality. It would be easy to just allow the organization to embarrass itself out of existence.

But to hell with that. Why shouldn't the lgbt community get in on the fun?

GOP Rep. Bill Flores Links Baltimore Riots To Gay Marriage - Some fool exploiting the sad situation in Baltimore to attack marriage equality was to be expected. But the fact that it was a Congressman talking to Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council (who, for all his talking about gays trying to co-opt the civil rights movement, has been silent about Baltimore) is simply sad.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg eviscerates same-sex marriage opponents in court - Due to her awesome questions and such during yesterday's SCOTUS oral arguments on marriage equality, I called Justice Ginsburg a "bad ass steel armored bullet-proof Earth Mother." After reading this article which goes into more detail about yesterday, I think a better description of her awesomeness is in order.

Florida's Trans Bathroom Bill Dies - Whoever said these awful transphobic bills can't be defeated is lying. It takes will, courage, and hard work, but they can be exposed as the fraudulent pieces of trash they are.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

I personally think that this morning, the lgbt community got a welcome, albeit minor, scare at SCOTUS. It should serve a reminder that nothing is a cake walk and we shouldn't celebrate until battles are over and not when they look as if they are over.

Let me also say that after that minor scare, things look good for 50 state marriage equality. All in all, it could boil down to the same thing which tipped the Windsor decision to us - the dignity of same-sex families and our children.

But rather than giving you an expository, I am going to spotlight what I feel were the three best articles which emphasizes the main points of today's oral hearing, particularly the part which may tip the case in our favor:

Supreme Court Mulls How Marriage Equality Will Come About - From the Huffington Post comes a general overview of today's oral session, including how the swing vote the lgbt community is counting on, Justice Anthony Kennedy, gave us a huge scare this morning and how the lawyer defending marriage equality bans actually brought Kennedy back to why he ruled in our favor in Windsor.

So what do I think? In one form or another, marriage equality is here to stay. There are serious trepidations and fear by some of the justices of what they claim to be a "redefinition" of the institution. But this fear is going to be measured with (and hopefully outweighed by) giving same-sex families and their children the fairness and dignity of equal marriage.
For now, nothing is for sure. But it does look good.

Editor's note - We are all on pins and needles about the SCOTUS oral arguments on marriage equality today. They are happening even as I write this and if you want to check them out, go to the live stream at SCOTUSblog.

Coming Out As Gay In Elementary School - And this. Let me be honest with you. I personally don't expect to get married. It would be nice and who knows what may happen, but I want marriage equality so that our children can decide their future choices based upon what they have a right to receive, not what's denied to them. To me, the argument of marriage equality is simple - it's about dignity for present lgbt couples and potential future lgbt couples.

Monday, April 27, 2015

The following video are scenes from NOM's latest failed attempt at a #march4marriage, which was held on Saturday. Of course none of the arguments these folks are making could ever make sense in front of the Supreme Court.

To me, the grand irony is how these folks whine about being persecuted and ridiculed for their anti-marriage equality stance while at the same time denigrating lgbts and our lives. It's that duck and dodge which has become very popular amongst those who stand against marriage equality.

Sunday, April 26, 2015

This week, SCOTUS will be hearing arguments regarding 50-state marriage equality. Folks are predicting that we are going to win one, however I have always been one for never "counting your chickens before they hatch."

But as the moment draws closer, national supporters and opponents of marriage equality appeared on Sunday news programs to debate the issue. On CBS's Face the Nation, Family Research Council head Tony Perkins debated Freedom To Marrys' Evan Wolfson.

It was a good debate, but I want to point to something before it gets drowned out. When Face the Nation's Bob Schieffer asked Perkins did he call for the impeachment of Supreme Court justices if they rule for marriage equality, Perkins was quick to say no, he did not.

Transcript (start at 3:32)

Bob Schieffer: Did you really say that justices who come down on the side of gays in this issue should be impeached?

Tony Perkins: No I didn't say that.

Bob Schieffer: Because there are reports to that effect.

Tony Perkins: No I didn't say that.

Bob Schieffer: What did you say?

Tony Perkins: Well I said . . . I didn't say anything about impeachment of the judges. What I said is that they are not the final say on this issue . ..

Perkins is not being truthful. He in fact did say something about impeaching the judges. According to Right Wing Watch, on Thursday of last week, he was interviewed by the Iowa based radio host Jan Mickelson:

. . . Perkins predicted will end with the court striking down bans on same-sex marriage across the country. Once this occurs, Perkins warned, “it will be open season on people of faith.”
He predicted that the court will issue a ruling similar to Roe v. Wade, further dividing Americans and contradicting “natural law.”
Mickelson suggested that if this happens, members of Congress should try to “remove” the Supreme Court’s “jurisdiction” over the marriage issue and “nullify” its decision, sending the message to the justices that “if you try it again we will impeach your sorry keisters.” Perkins heartily agreed: “I think you’re absolutely right.”

So why is this important? Because since people like Perkins are anticipating a loss at SCOTUS, they are attempting to shift the argument and make it seem like they are the victims who are being unfairly shunned because of their anti-marriage equality beliefs.

That's the constant mantra implied by spokespeople on that spectrum of the issue from Perkins to Maggie Gallagher to Ryan T. Anderson.

And Perkins implying that a SCOTUS judge should be impeached for merely ruling against his side on an issue doesn't exactly jibe with the image of "shunned Christians," does it?

Perkins's falsehood is definitely something I wish some folks on our side would keep in mind when they begin "concern-trolling" about this issue.

Certainly no one should be shunned simply because of their opinion, but when we are so quick to believe folks like Perkins even after all of the distortions they have spun in the past, we are merely walking into their latest con game.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

There has been a lot of speculation on whether or not Mike Huckabee will run for president. I think he will and if he does, the lgbt community had better do what we can to keep him from getting elected.

And I say that based upon this conference call he had with other anti-gay leaders (courtesy of Right Wing Watch). On this call, you can practically start a drinking game with the lies and paranoid delusions Huckabee throws out about the lgbt community and how we will attempt to outlaw Christianity and force pastors to marry gay couples.

That's the one thing I hate about people like Huckabee. Not only do they think that their version of Christianity is the only one which counts, they don't even hold true to it because of the outrageous lies they tell.

Editor's note - According to Right Wing Watch, because of apparent technical difficulties with the conference call, there are beeping noises throughout the call signifying participants dialing in.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

In this wonderful video, writer, reporter, and video producer Matt Baume takes down all of the distortions contained in a new Family Research Council video speaking against marriage equality. It should be required viewing and demonstrates just what is the problem with American broadcast media these days - too many lazy pundits hogging up the air and not enough talented folks like Baume (who actually do the digging and the grunt work) getting the attention they deserve:

The anti-gay right wants us to forget this image of the lgbt community they once pushed on a heavy scale.

As a gay man, I admit that I am enthused and encouraged by what I see as a more lgbt-inclusive American society.

While we still have some kinks to work on and straighten out, I am happy with our progress. Just a decade ago, we wouldn't be talking about lgbt issues as openly as we are now. We have more public figures who are out from the get-go, rather than coming out after long rumors and speculation. And marriage equality is closer to becoming a 50-state reality sooner than some of us ever realized (fingers crossed).

But I am nagged by something which is figuratively poking me in the back of the head with the urgency of a classmate eager to annoy the hell out of me.

There is a brazenly dishonest new tactic emanating from the anti-gay right which must be called out on a larger scale. That lie is the idea that somehow the progression of marriage equality and popularity of the lgbt community is suddenly making them isolated and derided for supposedly simply stating their opinions. Suddenly the lgbt community is being portrayed as bullies seeking to shut anti-gay figures down and deride them for speaking against marriage equality and lgbt equality. It's a skilled talking point helped along by think tank finances, intellectuals paid by these finances, and a "news" network which mistakes omitted information, one-sided interviews, and sloppy (probably in some cases deliberately sloppy) journalism as conservative opinion and ideology.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

I talked about this travesty today in which anti-gay activist Judge Roy Moore was given a civil rights award from a black organization ( The Coalition of African-American Pastors, is a known astroturfed group of National Organization for Marriage stooges) for his opposition to marriage equality. The crowning glory of this farce is when Moore and the head of CAAP, William Owens, attempt to explain what is wrong with marriage equality.

I don't think I should even bother answer Owens's last statement, except to say I don't do that sort of thing. It sounds dangerous.(speaking strictly with tongue in cheek, of course)

And just who is Rev. Brandon Porter, you ask? Why he is the pastor who "laid his hands" on a young man and supposedly "cured" him of his homosexuality. In fact, we happen to have the video right here:

By the way, the young man in the video, Andrew Caldwell, has said he is still gay. One can only hope that Porter brings as much success to NOM's march as he did in "delivering" Caldwell from "homosexuality."

The Fight for LGBT Equality is Not Over- According to this article in The American Prospect, Republican lawmakers have introduced over 100 pieces of anti-lgbt legislation in 29 states. They never know the meaning of the phrase "overdoing it."

And that being said, you all owe the city of Houston and particularly Mayor Annise Parker a public apology.

Granted, I am not naive. I know one is not forthcoming. The purpose of this letter is not to appeal to either your morality or integrity. It is merely to show how you all are lacking in both. It was bad enough that you helped to weave false stories of male predators attacking women in changing rooms, restrooms, and locker rooms because of this ordinance. You all have told this lie so many times, the lgbt community is almost (and unfortunately) becoming desensitized to it.

Opponents of Houston's non-discrimination ordinance failed to gather
enough valid signatures to force a repeal referendum, a state district
judge ruled Friday, validating city officials' decision to toss out the
petition foes submitted last summer.

After separate rulings from both a jury and state District Judge
Robert Schaffer, attorneys for both sides entered dueling counts of the
valid signatures, adding and subtracting voters as Schaffer responded to
motions. By early this week, the counts were closer together than ever
before, fewer than 1,000 signatures apart.

Ultimately, Schaffer on Friday ruled the final count of valid
signatures was 16,684, leaving opponents short of the threshold required
in the city charter of 17,249 signatures, or 10 percent of the ballots
cast in the last mayoral election.

Last year, the Houston City Council passed a transgender inclusive equality rights ordinance (HERO). Opponents of the ordinance rallied in August and claimed to have gathered more than enough signatures to force a referendum. However, according to city, the signatures contained many errors and taking this into account, a lot of them were disqualified, thereby meaning that HERO opponents had failed in their attempt. In addition, there were accusations that they were engaging in underhanded tactics to gain signatures.

Faced with this defeat, the HERO opponents sued the city of Houston, claiming that they did in fact get enough signatures.

One thing which is sad about this so-called cultural war is how anti-gay group leaders can say some of the most outrageous things about the lgbt community without them or anyone else batting an eye.

These folks, who are supposed to stand for morals and values, freely spin lies so outrageous that one can only wonder what values do they actually believe. Case in point is Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel claiming that homosexuality costs government billions of dollars:

“Same-sex marriage leads to the devaluation of both a mother and a father, who each provide a unique contribution to the family,” Staver said. “Studies estimate that over the course of 26 years, our government spent more than $225 billion that could be directly attributed to the breakdown of the family culture and its resulting social consequences.”

Of course Staver won't reveal just what these studies he alluded to are or where he found them because no one is going to bother to ask him about it. Just like no one bothered to confront him about the lie he told to a Congressional committee last year regarding his support of Russia's anti-gay laws.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

From time to time, I like to look at old negative footage regarding the lgbt community to give myself perspective. And to remind myself that progress happens, no matter how slow we think it is taking place.

I wish the above video was a joke, but it's not. It is a snippet of an actual lecture in the 1960s of a police officer threatening school children with jail if he finds out they are gay. It's a reminder of how far we have come.

Because I swear if I had a child and he or she came home and told me that a police officer did this, I would put a knot on that officer's head so tall, it would have snow growing at the top:

How An Extreme Anti-LGBT Legal Powerhouse Is Working To Enact "Religious Freedom" Laws - The Alliance Defending Freedom is a $39 million a year organization
working hard to enact statewide anti-gay "religious freedom" laws. It
has deep connections with other anti-gay groups and deep connections
with members of various state legislators. And that's not counting the
receptive relationship it has cultivated with Fox News. Now in spite of
all of this, the lgbt community can defeat its nefarious efforts but
that ain't gonna happen with merely putting offensively funny statements
on facebook, useless one-note "direct action" tactics, and ridiculous
squabbles about "Gay, Inc." We defeat this group by educating the public
about its immoral tactics and lies to the public. But first we need to
educate ourselves. In The Art of War, Chinese general Sun Tzu said, “If
you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a
hundred battles. . . .” So ask yourselves, just how much do you know
about the enemies of lgbt equality other than simply labeling them as
"bigots?"

With all of the talk about anti-gay "religious freedom" bills, marriage equality, and presidential elections, it's easy to forget one of the most important reasons why we fight for lgbt equality - our lgbt children.

Tomorrow is GLSEN's Day of Silence, an annual event in which students across the country take a vow of silence in order to call attention to the "call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools."

Check out the above video and links to find out more about it.

Now usually, I would talk about how the opposition spins lies about "homosexual indoctrination" in order to undermine the event. This time, I won't.

Sen. Marco Rubio
told reporters on Tuesday that he has never supported a national
constitutional amendment banning gay marriage despite his general
opposition to such unions, preferring to leave the issue to the states.
But a 2010 voter guide from a leading social conservative group
indicates he supported such an amendment as recently as 2010 and a
spokeswoman for the organization told msnbc they stand by their
account.

“I’ve never supported a federal constitutional amendment on marriage,” Rubio told msnbc’s Kasie Hunt in an interview Tuesday.
But the Christian Coalition, a group that issues surveys to
candidates and tracks their positions on a variety of issues, reported
in their 2010 English and Spanish voter guides that Rubio supported a Federal Marriage Amendment. The guides are posted on the group’s website. The
organization surveys candidates around the country and rates them,
among other issues, on their specific stand on the issue of gay
marriage.

Reached by msnbc for comment, a Christian Coalition spokeswoman
confirmed that Rubio had filled out a candidate survey in 2010 when he
was running for the Senate in Florida and attested to the voter guide’s
accuracy, which she said was rigorously checked against candidate’s
questionnaires, votes, and public statements. However, she said the
group could not immediately produce a copy of Rubio’s survey without
digging into their archives.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal's plan of making the passage of an anti-gay religious liberty bill a priority is running into some opposition from state legislators.

Speaker pro tempore of the state House of Representatives Walter "Walt" J. Leger III wrote an absolutely blistering column in Monday's Times Picayne. In the column, Leger stood firmly against passing such a bill:

Moral and religious people do not discriminate. While overly broad and
intentionally ambiguous, this so-called religious freedom bill provides
protections for individuals who cite their personal religious beliefs to
discriminate against people. It is bigotry enshrouded in religion. This
is not what the proponents would have you believe, though. They claim
the bill is meant to "safeguard religious freedom" and protect
individuals from "adverse treatment by the state" in retaliation for
actions stemming out of their personal beliefs. Federal and state laws already exist to protect religious liberty.

. . . Moral and religious principles aside, the proposed law threatens our
nation's core tenets of freedom and equality. We should not and cannot
cite religious freedom to allow businesses to deny service to people
based on their skin color, religion or gender. So why would we allow
discrimination based on sexual orientation? Would we have stores place
"Heterosexuals Only" signs in their windows where "Whites Only" signs
once hung?

Preventing a business from discriminating does not hinder the freedom
of the business owner to hold his sincere religious beliefs in his
heart and in his home. A business operating in the public sphere,
relying on public infrastructure, is not at liberty to pick and choose
who it will allow to be its customers. Either it is open for business or
not.

Needless to say, Leger's words has some religious right groups seething. Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council had this to say in an email:

Leger must have gone to President Obama's School of Religious Liberty,
where the slogan is: believe what you want, but don't act on it outside
the home. Like most liberals, he thinks that surrendering your beliefs
is the price of doing business. On one point Leger is correct: "We must
ensure that Louisiana lives up to the ideals of a life lived free of
government-sanctioned discrimination." I agree. But the only way of
ensuring that is by passing HB 707 and treating everyone's views with the respect the Left's already enjoy.

Of course Perkins' comments failed to speak about Leger's very good point regarding infrastructure. However, regardless of his comments, Perkins would be highly inaccurate to lay opposition to the bill solely at Legers' feet. According to CBS News, other legislators aren't exactly happy with the bill either. Either they are hesitant to talk about the bill or think it's a waste of time in light of the fact that Louisiana has a $1.6 billion shortfall it must deal with. The bill wasn't even yet sent to committee. This keeps it from receiving a public hearing or any vote. According to CBS News, out of the hundreds of bills introduced, it was the only bill not sent to committee.

What happens next is anyone's guess. However, if you ask me, I would say that the same hell which met Indiana Gov. Mike Pence when he signed that state's "religious freedom" bill is waiting for Jindal.

And if Jindal continues to stroll eagerly into this hell, he deserves whatever negative backlash he is sure to receive.

Tuesday, April 14, 2015

In an interview with CNN's Dana Bash, Rand Paul suggests an idea to settle the marriage equality debate. If you ask me, it's as bad as Romney's "self-deportation" idea. Seriously. Paul's idea of giving same-sex couples contracts dehumanizes our relationships,as we are entering a business partnership rather than a marriage.

Good luck with seeking that presidential nomination, Paul. You're gonna need it AND prayer.

Jindal makes religious freedom bill a legislative priority - So LA Governor Bobby Jindal is making the passage of the state's anti-gay "religious freedom" bill a priority. No doubt, a serious bid to get some serious credibility for himself as THE presidential candidate the religious right is looking for. Frankly, a part of me hopes he succeeds. His success ensures that he will NEVER get anywhere near the White House. Bobby, Bobby, Bobby! Pandering shouldn't be so obvious. It demonstrates a serious lack of finesse.

Robin Roberts Celebrates Life On ‘AARP Magazine’ - Robn Roberts makes the cover of AARP magazine and gets interviewed! Sweet! And of course she discusses her life in the interview, including life with her partner of 10 years, licensed massage therapist Amber Laign.

Same-Sex Attracted Men, 'Ex-Gay' Group Urge Supreme Court To Rule Against Marriage Equality - What I don't get is this - if these guys are happy with their lives, why won't they afford same-sex couples the same luxury? Here you see the fallacy with ex-gay groups and folks like these guys. They claim that the lgbt community won't let them lives as they please, but behind their false victimhood status, they are undermining OUR lives. They won't let US be comfortable with OUR lives.

Monday, April 13, 2015

One Texas state legislator seems to think that her "religious freedom" allows her to be rude to voters. Not only is she proposing anti-gay legislation, but she has also refused to meet with a gay constituent in order to discuss it.

State Rep. Molly White (R-Belton) has proposed legislation that would allow businesses to refuse to serve customers on religious grounds. The first-year Republican lawmaker has also proposed legislation seeking to make the state’s ban on same-sex marriage immune from court rulings.

. . . But White’s staff has said trying to discuss the issues with her “would be a waste of time." The Temple Daily Telegram reported
last week that White’s staff had initially greeted Frank Carlson of
Equality Texas, before turning him away upon learning who he
represented.

Her staff told Carlson, who works on behalf of the largest LGBT
rights organization in Texas, to “drop off your literature and leave.”
White’s staff informed Carlson that the lawmaker “is against anything
LGBT.”

“I conveyed that the representative has stances on some issues and
that she isn’t likely to change her mind on them,” White’s chief of
staff Hannah Bell told the Temple Daily Telegram. “We try to be a
transparent office and I told them that they needed to meet with
individuals that shared their viewpoint.

Marco Rubio's Top 10 Anti-Gay Statements - According to reports, Sen. Marco Rubio will soon announce that he is running for president. As if he is any different from Cruz or Santorum. Boy do I feel sorry for lgbt Republicans.

From the Texas Freedom Network comes the words from an anti-gay activist which gives an indication why folks like him are losing the fight against marriage equality. But as they are losing, their language is getting less guarded and more offensive:

Where to begin with Steven Hotze? The Houstonian and head of
Conservative Republicans of Texas last made headlines a few weeks ago
when he brought Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore to the Texas Capitol for
a rally in defense of this state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Hotze was back in Austin on Wednesday to appear before the Texas House Committee on State Affairs to speak in support of House Bill 4105
by state Rep. Cecil Bell, R-Magnolia. HB 4105 would prohibit state or
local funds from being used to issue a same-sex marriage license or
acknowledge a same-sex marriage in any other way — regardless of whether
the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the ban on those unions in Texas.

During his testimony, Hotze, one of the most vicious anti-gay
activists in all of Texas, got into a lengthy exchange with state Rep.
Sylvester Turner, D-Houston. Just in the four-minute clip you can hear
above, Hotze:

Portrays the freedom to marry for gay and lesbian couples as morally equivalent to the Nazi’s mass murder of Jews

Argues that Texans should actively subvert any U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage

And, for the extremist cherry on top, equates gay people to
alcoholics, murderers, adulterers, perverts, pornographers, rapists and
embezzlers. In that order.

But these days, things are different.Cameron's long record of shoddy work and lies against the lgbt community have made him somewhat of a pariah and a laughing stock.

While "true believers" such as Bryan Fischer, Peter LaBarbera, or Gordon Klingenschmitt have no problem with interviewing him or citing him by name, the more sophisticated anti-gay groups, such as the National Organization for Marriage, avoid him like the proverbial plague that he is.

Not that Cameron minds in any way, shape, or form. He still goes on whatever show will have him while pushing the same nauseatingly homophobic generalizations which made him popular over 30 years ago.

And based upon the above clip above, I mean any show. It is from January of this year on a radio talk show called The Doghouse with host JV and Elvis.

Gay men molest children at a high rate and are more likely to be serial killers,

Gay men stuff gerbils up their rectums,

Gays and lesbians in the military are more likely to rape their heterosexual counterparts.

So why is a Mike Huckabee "support group" teaming up with this group to submit a brief to SCOTUS against marriage equality? It's definitely yet another thing to put on the list to ask Huckabee should he start again with the "intolerant, radical gay" lie. Or better yet, if he should run for president.

James Dobson, the founder of the Religious Right behemoth Focus on the Family, warned in a recent conference call with fellow anti-gay activists (Editor's note - according to Right Wing Watch, this call included Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, Rick Scarborough of Vision America and Peter LaBarbera of Americans For Truth About Homosexuality) that a Supreme Court ruling in favor of marriage equality could lead to a full-blown civil war.
After Janet Porter, the creator of a new “documentary” about how the gay rights movement will outlaw Christianity, discussed her “restraining order” campaign to convince Congress to strip the Supreme Court of its authority to rule on marriage cases, Dobson said that his fellow activists “need to be realistic about what we’re up against here.”

It gets even better as Dobson goes through a one-man rambling, hand-wringing spiel, divulging all sorts of good information about the supposed fear of Congress to tackle the marriage equality issue and who is opposed to the idea of calling for a "constitutional convention" should marriage equality become legal via SCOTUS.

Basically what we are seeing here is a man who helped to orchestrate the 2004 backlash against marriage equality (a backlash which got Bush re-elected) bearing witness to the possible collapse of all of his efforts. It's sort of like that Greek play, Oedipus the King, in which the main character Oedipus realizes that the actions he took to prevent a situation actually caused the situation to take place

One wonders if Dobson has any shred of introspection to realize that his massive efforts to stamp out marriage equality in 2004 actually helped the issue to become more prominent and worth fighting for by the lgbt community.

I doubt it. Most anti-gay activists are totally incapable of introspection, They are so busy pointing out the faults of others or engaging in fear mongering that they don't have time to examine their own faults or fears.

Wednesday, April 08, 2015

From Buzzfeed comes an interesting video on what happens when you tell a stranger that you are transgender:

Some in the comments section have pointed out that transgender men can be seen to be more accepted than transgender women. Certainly that is a belief which we need to have more debate about. But still, this is a very interesting video.

Editor's note - We all know that the anti-gay right are being highly deceptive when they whine about how marriage equality and lgbt equality in general will harm 'religious freedom.' As luck would have it, two present incidents not only call attention to how they use deception to push this idea, but also begs the question just how much do they believe in 'religious freedom' in the first place. The following news briefs illustrate my point:1. The first incident has to do with a Colorado bakery being found not guilty by the the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies of violating a potential customer's rights by refusing to put anti-gay messages on a cake. The bakery still served the potential customer and offered to sell him the equipment so he could put the message on the cake.

Now in the eyes of the anti-gay right, this is equivalent of not serving a customer for being an lgbt, a so-called right of 'religious freedom':

Cake Wars the Sequel - HOWEVER, this doesn't prevent those on the right, such as the fake news site, Breitbart and anti-gay personalities like Todd Starnes and the so-called Alliance Defending Freedom from exploiting the case via a false narrative. In the eyes of these folks, repetition is a wonderful substitute for truth.

Stop. Lying. Tony. Perkins. - And of course where would this false narrative be without Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council? The lie he pushed in this tweet is simply SAD. Are you slipping, Tony.

2. Now the second incident is rather simple. For all of their talk about protecting the 'religious freedom' of folks who believe that homosexuality is a sin, one wonders how does the anti-gay right feel about protecting the 'religious freedom' of those who do NOT think that homosexuality is a sin?

The entire point of today's news briefs is this - We have to do more. I get constantly frustrated because it seems that the lgbt community waits for the anti-gay right to define the narrative. And when they are being blatantly hypocritical, we don't capitalize on it. The only reason why the anti-gay right gets away with a lot of the stuff they do is because we let them. It's not enough to KNOW that the anti-gay right is lying or being deceptive. We have to let people know. We have to aggressively educate people on what's really going on in this so-called culture war.

About Me

Alvin McEwen is 46-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC.
McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, The Washington Post, Raw Story, The Advocate, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Blade, and Foxnews.com.
In addition, he is also a past contributor to Pam's House Blend,Justice For All, LGBTQ Nation, and Alternet.org. He is a present contributor to the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post,
He is the 2007 recipient of the Harriet Daniels Hancock Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient of the Order of the Pink Palmetto from the SC Pride Movement as well as the 2009 recipient of the Audre Lorde/James Baldwin Civil Rights Activist Award from SC Black Pride. In addition, he is a three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride.